8L empty fuel tank- the gauge lies!!

[jimmp]

Hi team,

I'm sure this has been covered before but I thought I'd ask the idiot's question;

Is fuel-gauge sender failure a common issue?

Last night my fuel light came on so I put in a £10'er. Then it came on again and so I put in a £10'er, then it came on again. Average mpg as shown by DIS at the moment is 38>41 mpg and the gauge shows the tank as empty also.

I can't see a leak underneath at this point- or smell one.

What's involved in a sender swap? Do I have to recalibrate the system or does it just "work" with a new sender? How much hassle is it and does anybody have a parts cost...?

incidentally- I now drive a TDI quattro...

(don't want much from this thread do I??!!!)

Thanks in advance...

JimP

 

[jimmp]

I've just thought of something else;

somebody told me that restarting a TDI after depressurising the fuel system was a major hassle- does anybody know is that true?

Thanks

JimP

 

[jcs356]

My S3 did this once. Just went for a bit of a 'spirited drive' round some twisty roads and the sender freed up. Been ok ever since.

 

[sportstractor]

My S3 did this once. Just went for a bit of a 'spirited drive' round some twisty roads and the sender freed up. Been ok ever since.

Never had this but often get it on my vivaro van, it does free up though. If you run it right down £10 would bearly get it off the reserve light though, it's only 7ltrs of fuel. Isn't a good idea to let a diesel run out, some have pumps in them to help you prime them if you do, some are a right game from what iv been told

 

[Perplexer]

I had a similar issue (irregular fuel readings) - I just filled the tank up with fuel with as much as it would take and the problem went away. So far (about a year) I have not had the issue return.

 

[chazza55]

my gauge on the s3 lied to me once.....the tank after i changed the fuel filter........said i had 5miles left as the engine conked out on the motorway!

does the ecu need to relearn the amount of fuel in the tank after changing the fuel filter (thus losing fuel)???

 

[TDIQ]

I've just thought of something else;

somebody told me that restarting a TDI after depressurising the fuel system was a major hassle- does anybody know is that true?

I changed my diesel filter and turned the ignition on and off to accessory mode as it primes the fuel pump. Did it about 10 times and then start normally, spluttered slightly then was fine.

 

[a3 1.8t]

easy enough job just pull back seats out and undo the cover over the "man hole" into the tank then unscrew the sender unit out and move it up and down a bit or clean the tracks with some brake cleaner.. worked for me before on my golf....

 

[camscockle20vT]

So this is happening on a diesel? Iv had 0 miles read after only putting £6 of petrol in when i forgot my wallet, how many miles where you getting inbetween the £10 you had put in?

 

[jimmp]

hey-

thanks everybody for your feedback. I was thinking that being diesel question, there would be no response, but I've been proved wrong!

thanks for your help

as it happens; the gauge rolled off from 60 miles left to 0 miles left in 30 seconds. After a refill it never moved from 0.

I checked under the car as much as I could for a leak but there wasn't one and last night it had fixed itself.

More fuel from now on

Thanks

everyone

JimP